City Councilman: Police Overtime Issue Out Of Control

The Baltimore City Council took a step Monday night that members think will help address the police overtime spending issue.

A resolution was introduced to start holding monthly accountability meetings focused on the police budget and crime-fighting issues.

The council already has quarterly budget hearings, but supporters said there needs to be more direct focus on the police budget specifically.

"We, as a city, cannot continue to operate like this," City Councilman Leon Pinkett said.

The police overtime issue is out of control, according Pinkett.

It's bad enough that he and other council members think they need monthly budget-monitoring meetings to find a solution.

"We can't operate a city in that way. There are too many other activities that need those resources for us to not monitor, not analyze, not come up with recommendations and strategies for how to make the police department live within the budget that has been allocated to them," Pinkett said.

"The police department have an open checkbook, and we need to close that checkbook," said Baltimore City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young.

Pinkett introduced the resolution Monday, calling for the monthly meetings, focusing on staffing, payroll and overtime to improve accountability and transparency.

Increased police overtime spending has been a continuous conversation. In June, the council approved the use of $21 million in excess tax revenue to pay for police overtime that had gone over the city budget.

For fiscal year 2019, $20 million in overtime is budgeted, and overtime for this year is expected to reach $50 million.

"Even though we can't stop them from spending the money in the way that they have, we want to show, that listen, we're going to try to hold them to task for how they're spending their money," Councilman Brandon Scott said.

One problem contributing to the overtime is an officer shortage. The department said it's short hundreds of officers needed for patrol.

"Yes, that is the issue, and so part of the budget hearing for me will be, 'OK, what are you doing with retention? What are you doing with recruitment? What are we doing to make sure staffing matches our patrols? What are we doing to make sure certain that we not continuing to overrun the budget?' People are expecting transparency. People are expecting accountability, and right now, we're not getting either," Pinkett said.

There are three hearings scheduled to discuss the resolution over the next three months: Aug. 13, Sept. 5, and Oct. 2.